PHP on IBM i – So Much More Than You Think!

Did you know, if you’re using PHP on the IBM i platform, you also have Zend Server installed?

It's not unusual for an IBM i shop to view Zend Server as the same thing as PHP. While Zend Server does install PHP, there is so much more to the product that IBM i shops can take advantage of.

Zend Server is a web application server that provides functionality for the management of the PHP environment. It also provides tools to assist with development and to help isolate production issues.

In this post, I introduce the functionality in Zend Server. In future posts, I will dive deeper into specific functions.

Zend Server Details

Functions in Zend Server include:

• Monitoring: Provides the ability to see what is happening in the overall PHP environment and specific PHP applications. Thresholds can be set, along with actions to take when a threshold is reached or exceeded.
• Application management: PHP application files can be packaged into an installable file that includes installation steps and prerequisites. Using application files provides the ability to support functions such as deployment, update, and rollback.
• Code tracing: Provides real-time execution flow recording to support in-depth diagnostics, performance-related information, and statistics.
• Real-time application profiling: Provides insight into the PHP code to support inspect, debug, and optimization. This feature also monitors requests made to the web server and displays live and detailed information.
• Caching: Supports page cache (including the entire output of PHP scripts) and data cache (including strings, arrays, and objects).
• Configuration of PHP and web servers: Customize items such as virtual hosts and language modules.
• Job queue: Supports scheduling and processing of tasks and activities that can be run independently of the end user.
• Clustering: Managing a multi-node PHP environment, including application deployment to multiple nodes in the cluster.

Zend Server Editions

It's important to keep in mind that different editions of Zend Server have different levels of functionality. Follow this link to explore the capabilities that you get with the different editions.

See Zend Server Edition Comparison Chart

I hope you'll join me for the follow-on posts in this series that will go into more detail on the individual functions of Zend Server. If you have questions, feel free to reach out.